Office of the Historian

380. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1

Washington, October 15, 1966, 10:30 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • A Sidelight on Indian PL 480

The attached from John Schnittker2 explains release yesterday of another 250,000 tons of wheat for India. This is just an administrative [Page 739] device for completing shipments you promised in your March message to Congress.

The reason for a special action is that, while your approvals are written in tons, PL 480 agreements are written in dollars. When US prices rose, the dollar totals in the 27 May agreement would not cover the total tonnage you authorized. The shortfall became evident when Agriculture and the Indian Supply Mission totaled all the purchases under the May agreement.

This means there will be 200–250,000 tons more in the pipeline than we thought earlier this week. While this will carry Indian shipments into November, delaying our decision on the new agreement until you get back3 will still cause shipments in November and December to dip.

I think the most important element to weigh against domestic concerns is how delay will affect Mrs. Gandhi’s feelings about our promises of support. We made milestone economic and food deals with her, saying we’d stand behind her as long as she did her share. There have been some gaps in the Indians’ performance, but overall they’ve made the right decisions.

These deals have become a major issue in India’s election campaign. The question is whether Mrs. Gandhi can show that US aid pays off or whether her opposition makes stick its charge that she’s sold India’s dignity for a mess of pottage.

[Page 740]

I don’t predict disaster if we hold off. This is a political judgment which you are best suited to make. I’d be more comfortable about the Indian end if we went ahead now.

Walt

I still think we ought to hold off4

OK, go ahead

  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, India, India’s Food Problem, Vol. II. Confidential. A handwritten note on the memorandum reads, “Rec’d 10–15–66, 1:30 p.”↩
  2. The attachment was an October 14 memorandum from Acting Secretary of Agriculture Schnittker to the President.↩
  3. Reference is to the trip the President was scheduled to make to meet in Manila October 24–25 with the heads of the other six governments with military forces in South Vietnam.↩
  4. Johnson checked this option.↩